To refret or call it a day....

fendergibson

Getting very keen on my acoustic playing now. Fingerstyle stuff as I want to be TE when I grow up. 
I LOVE my 15 year old Taylor Big Baby (bought new) and it has served me very well indeed. I really like the ebony board and neck joint/upper fret access.
However the frets are now completely knackered and no amount of fretdressing is gonna help. 
Im looking at £180 + extra for new nut/saddle and hoping for opinions on what to do. Think you can get them new for about £450.

So I find myself thinking about new acoustics vs refretting this. 

Honest opinions, what would you do fellas ?

enjo

You can't replace it for £180 and you "LOVE" it.
Seems like a easy choice!
Perhaps you can even get away with a partial refret?

Paul_C

I'd say that if you love it, get it refretted.

If most of the fret wear is around the first five frets, as many are, then you could get those replaced and the rest levelled, which might save you quite a bit.

If you took 15 years to get to this point then what ever you do should get you another 10 - 15 years worth of playing out of it, which works out as not much/week.

If you'd rather get a new guitar, get a new guitar.

earwighoney

fendergibson said:

Getting very keen on my acoustic playing now. Fingerstyle stuff as I want to be TE when I grow up. 
I LOVE my 15 year old Taylor Big Baby (bought new) and it has served me very well indeed. I really like the ebony board and neck joint/upper fret access.
However the frets are now completely knackered and no amount of fretdressing is gonna help. 
Im looking at £180 + extra for new nut/saddle and hoping for opinions on what to do. Think you can get them new for about £450.

So I find myself thinking about new acoustics vs refretting this. 

Honest opinions, what would you do fellas ?

I'd definitely go for a refret, it's tricky to find an acoustic to bond with if that makes that sense and if you have bonded with the guitar then there's not much reason to stop using it. 

As for a new nut and saddle, Taylor's generally use Tusq ones so I imagine they could be picked up off Ebay if needed be prior to the refret if you wanted to save a few £'s. 

Have you thought of what fretwire you would like to go for?  If you have inclinations to avoid a refret again, then you could either go for Stainless Steel (which would be a fair amount more expensive) or Evo Gold, which shouldn't be too much more expensive and they don't destroy strings like SS frets but are unlikely to require replacing again. 

fendergibson

earwighoney said:

fendergibson said:

Getting very keen on my acoustic playing now. Fingerstyle stuff as I want to be TE when I grow up. 
I LOVE my 15 year old Taylor Big Baby (bought new) and it has served me very well indeed. I really like the ebony board and neck joint/upper fret access.
However the frets are now completely knackered and no amount of fretdressing is gonna help. 
Im looking at £180 + extra for new nut/saddle and hoping for opinions on what to do. Think you can get them new for about £450.

So I find myself thinking about new acoustics vs refretting this. 

Honest opinions, what would you do fellas ?

I'd definitely go for a refret, it's tricky to find an acoustic to bond with if that makes that sense and if you have bonded with the guitar then there's not much reason to stop using it. 

As for a new nut and saddle, Taylor's generally use Tusq ones so I imagine they could be picked up off Ebay if needed be prior to the refret if you wanted to save a few £'s. 

Have you thought of what fretwire you would like to go for?  If you have inclinations to avoid a refret again, then you could either go for Stainless Steel (which would be a fair amount more expensive) or Evo Gold, which shouldn't be too much more expensive and they don't destroy strings like SS frets but are unlikely to require replacing again. 

Thanks. Jescar or Simtons is what’s proposed, I believe both are pretty tough stuff. I’ve had a Strat refretted in SS and do love the feel of it but yes, maybe overkill on the Big Baby. Will look into the Tusq on eBay.

earwighoney

fendergibson said:

 Thanks. Jescar or Simtons is what’s proposed, I believe both are pretty tough stuff. I’ve had a Strat refretted in SS and do love the feel of it but yes, maybe overkill on the Big Baby. Will look into the Tusq on eBay.

Just out of curiousity, how do you find the SS frets on your Strat for string life?  Do they wear quicker than with Nickel frets? 

I'd not checked out Sintoms for frets for a while, they have some products I'm not familiar with.  Thanks for mentioning them, I will post up elsewhere about their new or newish products. 

I have a few guitars which are looking as they might need a refret at some point and it's good to know what's out there before I had the guitar over! 

fendergibson

earwighoney said:

fendergibson said:

 Thanks. Jescar or Simtons is what’s proposed, I believe both are pretty tough stuff. I’ve had a Strat refretted in SS and do love the feel of it but yes, maybe overkill on the Big Baby. Will look into the Tusq on eBay.

Just out of curiousity, how do you find the SS frets on your Strat for string life?  Do they wear quicker than with Nickel frets? 

I'd not checked out Sintoms for frets for a while, they have some products I'm not familiar with.  Thanks for mentioning them, I will post up elsewhere about their new or newish products. 

I have a few guitars which are looking as they might need a refret at some point and it's good to know what's out there before I had the guitar over! 

I don’t really notice any difference on string life, but I’m not gigging at present so it doesn’t get pounded as often as it should. I do however notice a big difference in bending, they are as smooth as the proverbial babies bum. I also think they give more overall clarity but maybe that’s just my imagination. My go to repairer says they are a bastard to install and blunt his tools lol but once in they will last forever. Cheers

randella

The other consideration is that your 15 year old Taylor might well sound better than a new one, as the woods age.

ICBM

Unquestionably refret it. It would be a shame to give up on a guitar you've used so long, even if the refret cost as much as it's worth (it won't) - and as already said, if it only needs a partial refret then it will be even less expensive.

Cost is not always the important thing. I have restored a lot of real cheap-junk guitars over the last few years, partly for the money but mostly because I would rather repair something old and cool than see it thrown away, even if in strictly hourly-rate terms it isn't worth it.

And a Taylor is not cheap junk.

Bridgehouse

Refret, or regret.

fendergibson

Bridgehouse said:

Refret, or regret.

Lol - if only you knew how many times I’ve had to autocorrect my comments on this thread ;-)

Bridgehouse

fendergibson said:

Bridgehouse said:

Refret, or regret.

Lol - if only you knew how many times I’ve had to autocorrect my comments on this thread ;-)

It took me 10 mins to type those three words.....

fendergibson

Guys, it’s going in for a refret. I knew it was the right way forward but needed your opinions - god I love this place for rational (ok, fairly rational) thought. 

The frets under the the top three strings are knackered way up high on the neck, it’s probably gonna be a full refret but I’ll know more when my man looks at it properly - again, thanks everyone it’s appreciated 

randella

You've got to be the first one to have taken advice from here and ended up spending less than you'd intended

fendergibson

randella said:

You've got to be the first one to have taken advice from here and ended up spending less than you'd intended

Lolz, indeed :-)

paganskins

randella said:

The other consideration is that your 15 year old Taylor might well sound better than a new one, as the woods age.

Also I bet the grade of wood used by Taylor 15 odd years ago is better than being used today. 

Good to hear it’s being given a new lease of life

ESBlonde

Just remember to treat yourself to another 'spare' guitar for when your baby is away being serviced, it's in the rules somewhere under GAS!

fendergibson

ESBlonde said:

Just remember to treat yourself to another 'spare' guitar for when your baby is away being serviced, it's in the rules somewhere under GAS!

Don’t get me started lol ! 

It’s going in tomorrow - 7th in line so yes, I’ll be without an acoustic for at least a month. 

Purposely trying not to look at the classified’s, failing miserably